212/24/05 19:52:16Start_LocalDevices.sh (server)[1;33mChild device (29) was configured but the startup script (Radeon_8500_or_newer) is not available in /usr/pluto/bin.[1;00m212/24/05 19:52:16Start_LocalDevices.sh (server)[1;33mChild device (31) was configured but the startup script (lircdconfrealmagic) is not available in /usr/pluto/bin.[1;00m112/24/05 19:52:16Start_LocalDevices.sh (server)[1;00mLaunching device 32 in screen session (devinput)[1;00m212/24/05 19:52:16Start_LocalDevices.sh (server)[1;33mChild device (33) was configured but the startup script (IVTV_Capture_Card) is not available in /usr/pluto/bin.[1;00m

and this pops over and over on the core, I believe as it tries to launch it's orbiter:

Also, after this breaks, aside from the hybrid/core's md not working, it appears that everything else works okay - other md's, tv, etc.

Update #2 - More evidence. Not sure if the child device errors above are part of this problem or not after all. The following is from the log for the hybrid orbiter starting. Seems like SDL is losing the video driver? (Radeon 9800pro):

Welp, I think I got this one down somewhat. The issue, I believe (though I can't be 100% sure because I fucked around with the resolution on the core/hybrid trying to get it to fit right on the tv - though I never set the driver to nvidia) that when i created the md in the bedroom, which has an nvidia card in it, that pluto overwrote the XF86Config-4 file for the hybrid md, causing the driver to poop out and x not to load. Swapping the driver back in wizard>devices>md's didn't help at all; in fact it still listed the driver as radeon. I finally pulled the .new file and fixed the areas in the active file that needed it to my best knowledge. Any thoughts here?

The Child device (17) was configured but the startup script (Generic_PC_as_MD) is not available in /usr/pluto/bin is "normal" (as in "it doesn't cause problems, but we didn't do anything so it doesn't show up since it's not that critical").

It looks like X has problems initializing the video card. See /var/log/XFree86.0.log. If you see a "No screens found" at the bottom, then X can't use the video card with the current driver (as written in /etc/X11/XF86Config-4).

That video card option in Pluto Admin doesn't work as expected for you since it does things a little different than what you'd expect: it installs some driver packages, and those packages will configure your X (or should), so, if you change cards, you'll either have to re-run the autoconfig code from the Orbiter package postinstall script (remove the ATI drivers packages, or this will not work, because X will segfault for some reason) or edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 an replace "fgrlx" or "vesa" with "nvidia" (after you installed the nvidia driver packages).

In this case, the reason it couldn't initialize the vid card in the hybrid (ATI) is because upon install of the first MD (Nvidia), it overwrote the ATI entries in the hybrid's XF86config file with Nvidia ones. I had to revert the file on the hybrid to bring it back up. I reproduced this problem at least 3 times before I figured out what did it.